Overweight doctors and nurses "should be given stomach stapling surgery because they are a bad example to patients"

Overweight doctors and nurses 'should be given stomach stapling surgery because they are a bad example to patients'Fat NHS staff lose their credibility when giving health advice to patientsDoctors and nurses should be offered to have their stomachs stapled as well as dietary advice on the NHS

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UPDATED:

18:16 GMT, 30 December 2012

Doctors and nurses who suffer from weight problems should be offered gastric surgery in order to retain credibility with patients on weight loss treatments, a report will say.

Overweight NHS staff ought to be given dietary advice and counselling as well as stomach stapling operations as they are setting a bad example for patients, the Royal College of Physicians said.

Over half of medical staff within NHS organisations are likely to be overweight, in accordance with statistics for the British population.

Gastric help: NHS staff who are overweight or obese should be offered stomach stapling surgery as they set a bad example for patients suffering from weight problems (file photo)

The report by the Royal College of Physicians, set to be published next week, will focus on the lack of treatment for weight problems and obesity within the NHS.

It is also set to conclude that work needs to be done to reduce weight problems for medical staff as they lose credibility in giving overweight and obese patients advice on a healthy lifestyle.

Hypocrisy: If the NHS staff advising overweight people are overweight themselves, they lose their credibility (file photo)

‘We want to make sure that people who work in the hospital health service are exposed to having the ability to get help where they need it,’ John Wass, author of the report told The Sunday Times, adding that ‘a lot of’ NHS medical staff are overweight.

The report will urge NHS
organisations to focus on the health of their staff as well as their
patients an ensure there is healthy food on offer for doctors and nurses
and not 'sell Coca-Cola all over the place', John Wass added.

Stomach stapling, also known as vertical banded gastroplasty, is a type of gastric surgery which uses
both a gastric band and staples to reduce the size of the stomach,
effectively restricting food intake.

A private stomach stapling surgery costs between 5,000 and 8,000.

The NHS offers weight-loss surgery
only as a ‘last resort to treat people who are dangerously obese’
meaning a person with a body mass index above 40.

It is also offered to people with a
BMI of 35 and above if they also suffer health conditions which could be
improved through weight loss, such as diabetes type 2.